


Fire & Water, Redux

by Izhilzha



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Gen, Team
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-01-12
Updated: 2007-01-12
Packaged: 2017-10-06 11:12:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 412
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/53074
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Izhilzha/pseuds/Izhilzha
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The wave of heat and the scream hit him both at once.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fire & Water, Redux

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Jedi Buttercup (jedibuttercup)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/jedibuttercup/gifts).



> Response to a death-fic prompt: author's choice of demise as long as it was sudden, shocking, and emotionally scarring for the survivors.

The wave of heat and the scream hit him both at once. Between running steps, Jack trips as the rocks beneath him shift--he's turned one-eighty before he hits the ground, ready to bound back to his feet and give Carter a hand up.

The damn heat is fire, a sheet of searing yellow-white leaping from a chasm in the path they just crossed.

The scream is Carter's, desperate, inhuman, all her words dissolved in pain.

Her clothes and hair have already caught, but he's close enough to see the flames sweep her pale skin into darkness.

She's nothing but a shadow swarming with light, and she's still screaming.

His eyes are stinging, tearing from the heat. He doesn't think about that, just lunges forward, for the one hand that might be within reach.

A grip on his upper arm pulls him back. "O'Neill!"

An attempt to wrench his arm away doesn't work, and another set of hands grabs his other arm, tugging him up the tunnel. "Jack." Daniel's voice is rough, breaking. "We have to go."

He's crying, Jack can tell, but that's only because Danny's never been on this side of it before. Jack has, and he's not going through this again. "We are not leaving her behind." The air catches in his throat, wheezing. "You got that?" He plants his feet, though trying to resist Teal'c is like trying reign in a lion.

"It is too late." Teal'c keeps moving, dragging Jack with him.

Jack turns in his grip, seeing the light reflected against Teal'c sweat-polished skin. "It's a trick. Like with Daniel. We can't leave her here!"

Teal'c seems to hesitate. Jack finds himself listening, straining to hear the screams. They've stopped. That doesn't mean anything, though, because that's what happened last time, when they didn't figure this out till fucking _days_ later.

"It is not a trick." Teal'c hauls him up the tunnel, Daniel stumbling alongside.

If he doesn't move, he'll fall, so he goes with them. _Go back, go back, go back_, is the rhythm of his feet against the stone. The heat roars at his back. The air scorches his lungs, his skin, and all he can see ahead of them is shadows fleeing from the blinding light.

No matter how he blinks, he still sees Carter's face haloed in flame. He'll be seeing it for a while, he knows.

Till they realize he's right, dammit.

Till he comes back here, and finds her whole.


End file.
